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Post by Barry Levitt on Jan 26, 2008 20:30:50 GMT
congratulations Karen. the best advice i can offer is try to resist the temptation to "take a peek" until the chick is at least a week old as the first few days are the most critical if the parents get disturbed too much. good luck i hope everything goes well with your new arrival. Barry.
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Post by Barry Levitt on Jan 15, 2008 20:41:24 GMT
congratulations Karen i wish you every success with the eggs. regards, Barry.
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Post by Barry Levitt on Jan 10, 2008 18:08:55 GMT
Hi Karen, The other pair of gouldians should be ok providing that you have adequate nesting boxes to enable them to nest without desturbing your pair that are already nesting. the secret is to provide nesting boxes that are all the same design and size and ensure that they are all positioned at the same height in your flight . domanant birds will nearly always choose the highest nesting boxes and if all the nest boxes are at the same height from the floor this generaly prevents any birds becoming dominant over the others. good luck. Barry.
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Post by Barry Levitt on Jan 9, 2008 23:00:00 GMT
Hi Karen, the Red siskins can be sexed at a very early age ,any chicks that show black feathers to their heads will always be cock birds as hens have grey coloured heads and lack the dark black feathers of the cock birds, normally i can sex youngsters as young as 3 - 4 weeks of age. regarding nest box inspections with gouldian finches- in order to increase your chances of succesfull breeding it is very strongly advised NOT to inspect their nests any more than is absolutley neccesary and although it is often tempting to take a peek with my birds i avoid any nest inspections during the first week of eggs hatching as this is the most crital stage when there is a high risk of parent birds deserting their nests. regards, Barry.
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Post by Barry Levitt on Jan 8, 2008 20:23:39 GMT
some more photos of my birds- another red siskin youngster. one of my male red siskins. a clutch of red siskin eggs. one of my blue gouldian finches. a recently fledged cuban finch. a few more of my gouldian finches. young red siskins begging for food.
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Post by Barry Levitt on Jan 8, 2008 20:05:11 GMT
Hi Karen, this is normal behaviour for most male gouldian finches and often it is the males who do most of the incubating, i have had male gouldian finches who have raised chicks on their own when i have had the misfurtune of lossing the hen birds. i wish you every success with your breeding and if i can offer you any further help please feel free to ask. regards, Barry.
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Post by Barry Levitt on Jan 6, 2008 14:20:56 GMT
a young red siskin recently fledged it's nest. and another youngster. these two youngsters are just starting to show their full colours. my red siskin breeding room. red siskin chicks 5 days old. just one of my gouldian finches that i bred last year. this red siskin is due to fledge the nest.
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Post by Barry Levitt on Jan 10, 2008 18:13:44 GMT
welcome aboard Paul it's nice to see another member from the UK and i wish you well with your building project. regards, Barry.
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Post by Barry Levitt on Jan 6, 2008 21:17:03 GMT
Many thanks for the nice welcome . Deb although i have been breeding birds for a long time there is always something new to learn and bird keeping is a constant learning curve even after these years i still don't consider myself as being an "expert" rather an experienced breeder who likes to pass on any help i can offer to those who require it. Barry..
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Post by Barry Levitt on Jan 6, 2008 14:04:46 GMT
hello to you all. i'm new to this forum and would like to introduce myself. i have been breeding birds for almost 50 years now and specialise in breeding mainly the red siskin however i also breed gouldian finches and cuban finches. all my birds parent rear their own youngsters and i do not have the need to use bengalese in any of my bird rooms. i particulary welcome correspondance from other breeders who also keep the red siskin and look forward to exchanging my experiences with other breeders. regards to you all. Barry.
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